Bens Blog

Since I moved to Canada back in March I have started to realize how many products are actually made in China. Back in Germany you could also buy lots of stuff from China but you mostly had the choice between German or Europe products and Chinese products. When I went to Food Basics in Oakville a couple weeks ago to get some apples I stood in front of a huge tray of Chinese apples! Aren't there enough apples in Ontario, Canada or the US? Even Mexico would probably be closer than China. Another day my wife bought Del Monte fruit cups in the grocery store. I checked the label when I was going to eat it and i decided to leave it in the fridge. First of all it is 'Made in China' (again I guess no other country in this world has fruit) and second it contains artificial flavor. How bad must the fruit inside be that you need artificial flavor (and does anybody in China controls how it is made)? For my part I'll check the labels more closely whenever I buy any kind of product

Recently I got a change to download Palo Worksheet Server 3 , I was planning to build a small test case and impress some people at work with what Palo can do. But I'm not sure if I should really show too much of the Worksheet Server during my presentation after I started playing with it a bit more. Here is why: Pros: The frontend of Worksheet Server looks nice. The Charts and Micro Charts look nice. Many people won't think of Palo as a full BI tool if it doesn't provide it's own frontend Cons: Why did Jedox release a software that is so unstable? I'm always worried to do too much in a worksheet because I don't know whats gonna happen next. Will i get lots of "value?" Will my session end and I loose my data? (Just happened) If you are used to Excel & Google Docs you get impatient, some of the context menus are too slow. After working with it for half a day I wouldn't let a client create his own reports, the frustration level would proba

This morning the September issue of the Open Source Business Resource (OSBR) - a monthly publication of the Talent First Network got released. It is all on Open Source Business Intelligence. Have a look:  OSBR September 2009 - Business Intelligence What is the OSBR? The Open Source Business Resource (OSBR) is a free monthly publication of the Talent First Network. The OSBR is for Canadian business owners, company executives and employees, directors of open source foundations, leaders of open source projects, open source groups, individuals and organizations that contribute to open source projects, academics and students interested in open source, technology transfer professionals, and government employees who promote wealth creation through innovation. [Quote from the OSBR website ]

SQL Power Group, based in Toronto, Canada, released version 0.98 of it's open source business intelligence reporting tool Wabit . Here is a overview of the newest (and improved) features: General Improved UI Most item are drag able Multiple workspaces can be open at the same time Search in workspaces Reports Report templates available Extended grouping options Chart New more intuitive UI to create charts Pie chart support added OLAP queries Filter added Improved UI More OLAP navigation features added (Drill replace etc.) One of the features I like the most is the new grouping and sections setting in reports as you can see in the screenshot: There are still many improvements possible but 0.98 brought Wabit a lot closer to all the other open source reporting tools available. What feature do you think should be added next?